30 Week Journey: Wrestlemania XV (1999)

The WWF was firmly ensconced in the “Attitude Era” as WrestleMania XV dawned in 1999, and the event from Philadelphia in so many ways illustrates the promotional philosophy that catapulted the company into record profits. You know what that means – it’s Lapsed Fan Deep Dive time.

Join hosts Jack Encarnacao and JP Sarro as TLF reaches the precise midpoint of its 30-week WrestleMania podcast journey. This week, it’s a look at all the guts and brains behind the WWF at this point in time, with Stone Cold Steve Austin overcoming increasingly absurd odds to trump Vince McMahon, the Corporation, and chief career foil The Rock to finally get his hands back on the WWF title, a prize a vengeful McMahon was bent on keeping away from him.

This deep dive includes:

- The Big Bossman is lynched from the Hell in a Cell ceiling, and the clumsy “IS IT SYMBOLIC?” cry from announcers to head off any outrage the company was at the time used to – enjoyed? – dealing with
- The Hardcore Title, and why
- The first, only, and last shoot match in WrestleMania history as Butterbean dominates Bart Gunn as if he were a plate of warm biscuits
- Welcome to the WWF, Paul “The Big Show” Wight, and why he never reached the heights foretold
- The first signs the rocket was going to be strapped to the back of one-day company boss Triple H
- “Are you boys ready for the Grind?” and other awkwardness
- The first of a series of storied collisions between The Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin, two once-in-a-lifetime stars who happened to blossom at the exact same time

That and another indelible contributions from Dave Meltzer, charting the most explosive period of growth in WWF history, including through-the-roof quarter-hour Raw ratings, as the foundation of WCW begins to crumble.

All that and so much more, as The Lapsed Fan continues its one-of-a-kind journey through the history of the WrestleMania. Get on board, before it’s too late.